


reaction and enlightment

by mysticstephen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, IronStrange, M/M, Multiverse, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:15:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15587829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysticstephen/pseuds/mysticstephen
Summary: What happened after Thanos snapped his fingers? Did the victims of the snap really disappear for good? But also, how is earth reacting to the disappearance of millions of people? this fic is about the aftermath of IW.





	reaction and enlightment

April 27th, 2018

"He better takes delight in this, because I didn't walk 3 blocks to buy a 1 dollar tuna sandwich for nothing", Stephen mutters.

Stephen opens one half of the Sanctum front entrance and then enters to go find Wong.

He first searches on the ground level. "He might be in the kitchen trying to find any leftovers or some forgotten cookies", he thinks, but with no result. He proceeds to go the upper level, where one can find the bigger concentration of books, the Mystical Library Collection.  
Wong, now and then, travels to Kamar-Taj, to check on the books he used to protect, but he knows his place is no longer there, not as much as it is in the New York Sanctum, after the fight with Kaecilius and his Zealots.

Wong is also not there. After putting down the food bag, Stephen lifts up the illusion of casual clothes, grabs the food bag and goes to a corridor in the Sanctum. This corridor is where their bedrooms are located.  
Stephen is next to Wong's bedroom, although sometimes he desires to be inside, just to see how it is but Wong cast a spell around it to not let nosey people (like Stephen), invade his privacy. And Stephen found that out after, one day, opening a portal there and go against a sort of a invisible dark glass.

Stephen knocks on the door.

"I have your tuna sandwich", he gets his head closer to the door, with no answer, "I'm not waiting all day. I'm hungry and I fear my chicken wrap isn't enough to fool my stomach". He says louder than before. He waits a few seconds but nothing. "If he later gives me a lecture on sharing and not touching others belongings, he better go buy food himself next time. But where is he though? We need to get an easier way to find each other here."

As he was walking to the opened portal, Wong is walking out from another portal, a few meters behind him. Stephen shows Wong the food bag and says, "The deli didn't have any tuna sandwich, had to go to Morton Williams down the street, someone shares your love for tuna.", but Stephen doesn't see annoyance or the usual indifference in Wong's eyes, only confusion and a slight despair. He puts the food bag next to Wong's bedroom's door.  
  
  
"Wong, what is it?" Stephen asks with increasing concern in his voice.

Before answering Wong closes the portal. "I was with Mordo just now." Said Wong breathing briskly.

Soon as Stephen hears that name he breaths in deeply. His body gets slightly tense, "How is he?", he asks breathing out with a lower worried tone.

Wong notices Stephen's non-verbal reaction but goes on by saying "He's ok, but I wasn't paying him a visit." 

He never misses a chance to make a witty remark everytime Stephen gets in that state so he realizes something might be wrong. "What happened while I was gone?"

"I went to check on the protection of the Sanctums and I noticed something was off. There were some energy variations on the shields, nothing very dangerous, but we need to be cautious, we still have very few protectors, due to the confrontation with Kaecilius two years ago."

"And you went to Kamar-Taj to acknowledge and warn them?", he never doubts Wong's decisions but a Sanctum protector needs to stand still in defensive position, in case the Sanctum is in danger.

"Yes. Mordo had already noticed it but was still figuring out what was it before alarming everyone."

"But do you now know what is it?" 

"No. As you can recall, the variations are not uncommon, but it's usually a momentary event, it doesn't take longer than a couple of seconds, which is not the case at the moment."

"Yes," he looks down and to the sides "that's not normal."

"Mordo" Stephen quickly meets Wong's eyes "and I checked for beings that could cause this, like mutants or other beings across the universe."

He semi-closes his eyes "Well, did you check other universes?"

"No, but the energy of other universes doesn't express itself this way nor does it have this kind of influence on us."

"I agree but it's the most probable explanation right now. Even more, if you say you both checked everything else."

Wong tries to think of a better explanation, but unsuccessfully.

"Wong," Stephen says with confidence but still serious. "I'm going to go seek into other dimensions for something out of the ordinary while in the astral form. Summon Mordo and then warn the Hong Kong and London Sanctums."

"Alright. We meet each other at dinner time?"

"Yes. 8 pm will do."

  
Stephen walks to his bedroom and Wong opens the portal to a more appropriate place on the sanctum to summon and meet up with Mordo.

Stephen sits in meditation position, closes his eyes and starts to concentrate. He's already experienced in going astral form and exploring a bit the multiverse using it but he usually explores a universe at a time. His first try consisted in him leaving Kamar-taj and go straight to the sky. The more he saw the more insignificant his life had been until that point. But the only time he had seen the multiverse in its splendour was when, while looking and feeling like a hurt puppy, he entered Kamar-Taj, searching for a solution for his severely damaged hands and ended up finding the cure for his arrogance and his (at that point) close mind instead.

Already in his astral form and in between dimensions, time is relative, his body inexistent and the reality much bigger than most humans could ever imagine.

He's been looking for a while, travelling through rather overwhelming sucking feeling multidimensional tunnels that defy current laws of physics.

As he comes out of one of the tunnels and suddenly confusion takes over him.

"I'm on our universe, but how? I know I didn't go back yet. And... the universe, _this_ universe is not right but let's go to earth."

Stephen is now in New York because there's no better place to see what is out of its place like our own home. He's close to Bleecker Street, he hears non-stop sirens, vehicles go against other vehicles, and people crying and screaming.

He can't believe what he sees. "It's utter chaos." He says to himself.

He approaches a restaurant and tries to focus on the news, despite the screaming that is growing around him.

*reads on the headline: MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DISAPPEAR MYSTERIOUSLY.*

"It's like... no. HOW? What is happening?" Stephen thinks for a solid minute about his next move. "By the power of the Vishanti, show me where I need to go"  
He's now on another planet. He seems to recognize it, but he was never here. He walks for a couple of minutes and starts seeing two people. One seems to be a female, with an android nature and a man, human. He approaches while not letting them know of his presence.

He recognizes the man. It's Tony Stark.

He observes them for a few minutes to see if they could give him some kind information but they only seem to be in physical and emotional pain. He passes part of his body through the barrier of the mirror dimension like the time he instructed Christine to operate his body.

  
"Hello, Stark", Stephen says with caution.

The female reacts first. "Take us out of here. We need to kill him."

Tony is terrified and skeptic. "H-how... are you... here?"

"Excuse me?" Stephen asks with a strong eyebrow frown.

The female, confused, lets Tony talk.

"Stephen, you disappeared... everyone did."

"Do you remember me?" Stephen asks surprised.

"Of course I do. What are you talking about?" Tony's voice starts to tremble. "We fought together earlier."

Stephen is somewhat aware of his mental state so he's careful. "Stark, we haven't seen each other in 20 years."  
  
  
Tony is mad, still in shock and not yet grieving. He saw one of the people he put more faith on simply disintegrating into nothing more than grains of what appears to be dirt and organical matter.  
  
  
Tony is carrying anger in his posture and now in his voice. "Stephen, we never met before this whole thing went down."

"That's impossible." He raises his voice but with no anger. "We met when we were young adults and then in the late 90's.

"What? No. That never happened." Says Tony almost screaming.

Stephen can tell Tony is traumatized and he doesn't want to aggravate that state of anguish. "Okay. Alright. We clearly seem to have different experiences." Stephen says calmly to appease Tony. "What day is it?"

"April, 27th 2018."

Tony becomes distracted. He has an (almost) neutral facial expression only tainted by hopelessness. He's afraid he won't be able to overcome this trauma and free himself from these psychological cages that imprison him, after all, the monster who orchestrated this genocide was the living in his head for six years.

Stephen starts to mumble. "Is this universe the alternate version of the other or are they the cause-effect of one another?"

Silence settles in. The female is no longer there, she went to the spaceship.

Tony stands up and says weakly. "Maybe both." He clears his throat. "It's obvious the key point was when Bruce crashed in your place or when we faced that squidward." In confusion, Stephen frowns but keeps listening. "There seem to be different timelines. You might be an alternative version of the Stephen I met earlier and I may be an alternative of the Tony that exists in your universe, but which universe came first is the real question considering that Thanos gathered all the infinity stones, and each gives the carrier a specific power, and since he probably got the rest on Earth..."

Before Tony continues talking Stephen intervenes. 

"That's impossible. I'm the protector of the Time Stone. I'd die before giving it away and even if I died there's a spell protecting the Eye of Agamotto and removing a dead man's spell... Troublesome."

"But you did. Just right after we were defeated." Tony says with resurfacing disappointment from earlier.

Incredulous, Stephen raises an eyebrow. "There would be no situation that I would ever allow that."

"I believed that as well until you, after seeing over 14 million outcomes, you gave it up," he spreads his arms "just like that."

"I'm sorry, Stark. Did I say or do anything else relevant?"

"Yes, «There was no other way.» and then you vanished."

Stephen massages the beginning of his nasal bone. "Let me think for a second". He closes his eyes. "What if I knew... that I'd be here right now? This version of me?"

"What do you mean?" He's now intrigued and with a speck of hope.

"What if... what if I saw not only the effects on this universe but something else. Have you heard of the multiverse?"

"A theory a small part of cosmology community defends as "the existence of bubble looking universes", yes, vaguely. Why?"

"It's not just a theory. It's the truth." He stops for a second, presses his lips and opens his mouth. "What if I saw a whole universe being created from the demise of this own?"

"There's a lot of what if's, doc." Tony seems more relaxed and numb by the new possibilities of redemption. "Either way, what do we do? How can we fix this?"

"I don't even know if there's a way to do that. I'm not really here, not physically, I mean. My body is in the other reality. If I, my other me, disappeared here once, what would guarantee I wouldn't disappear a second time if _I_ was to come here physically? I don't even know if I can open portals between the two realities."

"No better way to find out than to try it."

"I can't assure I'll follow your advice but I'll do my best, that I promise you."

Stephen returns the upper half of his body into the mirror dimension. Tony quickly calls Stephen. Stephen returns. "Yes?"

"Can you check on Pepper Potts before you go back to your reality? If she you know... warn me. Please."

"Of course, Tony." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a simulation au but i ended up going for alternate universes.
> 
> ps.: i know iw events matched the premiere of the movie, but it premiered in different days around the world, so i'm not sure if the day shit went down is really april 27th. warn me if that's not the day.


End file.
